Organizational Action

Author(s):  
Luca Iandoli ◽  
Giuseppe Zollo

Do organizations act? How can we describe collective action? How does such an action come about? The aim of this chapter is to provide the reader with a review of the various perspectives and to propose a definition of collective action as an attempt by the organization to maintain stability and regularity, and create an externally recognizable identity.

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 606-612
Author(s):  
Elizabeth L. Shoenfelt ◽  
Nancy J. Stone ◽  
Janet L. Kottke

As faculty in master's industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology graduate programs, we read with great interest the focal article on initiating and maintaining partnerships with organizations (Lapierre et al., 2018). We applaud the efforts of the authors to present guidelines and recommendations for successful applied research in organizations. Although Lapierre et al. directed their recommendations primarily to doctoral faculty and their students, there currently are 159 I-O psychology master's programs listed on the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) webpage (http://my.siop.org/GTP). Because of the applied nature of most master's programs, by necessity we work continuously to gain entry into and partner with organizations for internship placements, applied course projects, and applied service opportunities. We, along with other master's faculty colleagues, have published and presented on the topic of partnering with organizations (e.g., Shoenfelt, 2003; Shoenfelt, Kottke, & Stone, 2012; Shoenfelt et al., 2015; Shoenfelt, Stone, & Kottke, 2013; Shoenfelt, Walker, Long, Smith, & Whelan, 2012; Stone, Shoenfelt, Huffcut, Morganson, & Frame, 2018; Stone, Shoenfelt, Morganson, Moffett, & Van Hein, 2017). In this response, we offer an analogous perspective from the master's level based on tacit knowledge garnered from more than a century of combined experience. We note that many of the recommendations in this focal article likewise surfaced in our work. Here we highlight the challenges unique to master's-level and teaching-intensive faculty in implementing these recommendations. In our response, we embrace Lewin's (1946) definition of action research that there is no action without research and no research without action. Thus, we broadly define applied research as asking an important applied question and systematically collecting data to answer that question in a manner in which the results inform organizational action (whether or not it results in a peer-reviewed publication).


Contention ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 142-148
Author(s):  
Andrew G. Livingstone

AK Thompson’s “Ten Theses” is a timely and compelling piece. It challenges collective action scholars to address the nature, bases, and consequences of violence and physical force in a manner that does not position these as anomalous or outside the bounds of “normal” or “normative” action (a tendency that sees violence and physical force more regularly addressed on the other side of soft academic borders, such as that separating social movement and protest scholars from scholars of “terrorism”). I want to address this challenge here by reflecting on what my “home” discipline of social psychology can offer in terms of insights, and (more importantly) what blind spots and limitations remain. For convenience, I adopt a rather conventional and narrow working definition of “violence” as involving physical force, rather than a broader (but equally valid) definition that encompasses any act (including speech) that can cause hurt or harm.


2009 ◽  
pp. 67-94
Author(s):  
Federica Volpi

- Participation has been studied from different points of view. One of the possible ways to address the topic is to interrelate it with cultural consumption, con- sidering the relevance of both terms with regard to social cohesion and integration. The essay is designed to evaluate the interaction between participation and cultural consumption, leading to a definition of some citizens' groups with homogeneous features compared to both variables. Moreover, the essay aims to examine the groups' behaviour, compared with a phenomenon related to both cultural consumption and socio-political participation: responsible consumption. The groups' behaviour relative to this variable helps the understanding of some social dynamics and, above all, highlights the close relationship between a particular group (the actives) and alternative consumption behaviours. A thorough analysis of the relationship between a high degree of cultural consumption and a high degree of political participation underlines that responsible consumption is a collective action and, at the same time, finalised to and endowed with political efficacy.Keywords: Political Consumerism, Participation, Cultural Consumption, Collective Action, Political Efficacy.


2019 ◽  
pp. 27-56
Author(s):  
Jason Potts

Explains the nature of the innovation problem as an economic problem in the context of economic trade and long-run growth. Distinguishes between a market failure definition of the innovation problem as an allocation problems and the innovation problem as a collective action problem of coordination and discovery. Defines the innovation commons as the zeroth phase of the innovation trajectory. Introduces the concept of discovery failure and discovery costs. This locates the argument of the book in the broader context of Schumpeterian, evolutionary, and Austrian “mainline economics” with a contextualization of the innovation problem simultaneously as both a knowledge problem and a coordination problem, and therefore as a governance problem solved with institutions.


Author(s):  
Žarko Đorić

Declining trust is one of the central problems in modem politics. Trust declines in collective action arrangements. Trust is one of the "big questions," and "one of the normal obligations of political life." Embedded within it are fundamental issues of politics and democratic theory. In this article, I want to discuss which different conceptions of trust (and relations to democracy). The paper  proceeds as  follows. In the first part, the conceptual and theoretical definition of trust is given. In the second part it points to one of the basic division of  trust which is present in the literature. Finally, in the third part, the relationship between trust and democracy is pointed out and appropriate argumentation is offered.


2020 ◽  
pp. 016059762095194
Author(s):  
Zach Rubin

Recent scholarship on social movement groups has increasingly focused on the relationships between lifestyle and politics. As walls of classical social movement theories holding up the false dichotomy of personal and political spheres continue to crumble, I seek in this article to fill some of the space connecting personal and political work by expanding on the concept of collective action reservoirs. Based on an ethnographic case study of an intentional community named Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, I demonstrate how participation in a shared lifestyle can be the basis for a politicized account of everyday life. The members of this village have developed a unique lifestyle that they consider to be a form of political engagement, in which I show that they have different orientations to the definition of activism and to being in a “reserve guard” for direct action. They have developed and adopted an approach where lifestyle is the primary means of seeking change while direct action is held in reserve. I conclude by theorizing that the collective action reservoir represents a long-term stable base for social movement mobilizations.


1979 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dudley Jackson

During the last few inflation-ridden years many countries have experienced a severe crisis of industrial relations as workers tried, through collective action, to preserve their living standards against the pressure of rising prices. But Tanzania stands as a conspicuous example of one country where, during the 1970s, strikes seem virtually to have disappeared, as may be seen from Table I.1 It is true that the Tanzanian definition of a strike excludes disputes lasting less than one day; and it is also true that there have been occasions since 1972 when workers have ‘downed tools’ for brief protest periods. But the lack of reported strikes in Tanzania is not a statistical illusion. The Labour Officers of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare keep a close watch on the state of industrial relations, and these occurrences are known to and are reported by them, as is shown by their recording of three strikes in 1977. This last fact also demonstrates that strikes can still occur in Tanzania.


2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 1309-1324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derik Gelderblom

Although there is general agreement on the definition of social capital as the benefits to be derived from social connections, the type of advantages (more effective transacting across all fields versus contacts for personal advantage) and the beneficiaries (community versus individual) identified by social capital scholars differ. This variety can be addressed with a distinction between the so-called schools of cooperation and competition. This article focuses on the former, particularly the work of Robert Putnam. The author uses Nicos Mouzelis’s critique of rational choice theory, and his distinction between micro and macro actors, as a diagnostic tool to highlight the shortcomings of Putnam’s work and the cooperation school more generally. The author argues that Putnam’s notion of bridging social capital as a solution to problems of intolerance and more general social ills is overblown, given that both diverse social networks and increasing tolerance are the result of deeper social processes not analysed by Putnam. In support of this, the article lists a number of ways in which macro actors influence the ability of social networks to form, and once formed, constrain and enable their agency in either a cooperative or competitive direction. It also criticises the tendency of cooperation theorists to generalise the solution of the collective action problem on the micro level to the macro level. Finally, the article emphasises the importance of analysing the interaction between different collective action problems, as well as the connection between cooperation and competition.


2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (9/10) ◽  
pp. 613-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carin Runciman

Purpose The paper argues that the field of social movement studies has been dominated by a movement organisation-centric approach. This organisational bias has constrained the analysis of collective action, especially in the Global South. The purpose of this paper is to contribute towards a reconceptualization of social movements which links them not to organisations but understanding social movements as a praxis linked to the material experiences of everyday life. Furthermore, the paper uses this expanded definition of social movements to revisit debates about mobilising and organising through reference to the contemporary South African context. Design/methodology/approach The empirical findings of the paper are based on ethnographic, qualitative and quantitative research on collective action in South Africa that has been carried out by the author since 2009. Findings The paper presents three case studies of collective action which demonstrate the variability, strengths and weaknesses of different forms organising and mobilising in contemporary South Africa. Originality/value The paper contributes to re-conceptualising social movements in a way in which the concept is better able to travel across the Global North and South as a heuristic device. Furthermore, the paper situates debates about the strengths of mobilising with and without organisations within the South African context.


2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatriz Espejo ◽  
Patricia Aljama Cuenca ◽  
Joan Pujol Tarrés

Beatriz Espejo has worked in Barcelona as a trans-sex-worker since the 1980s, and in 1993 she founded the CTC, one of the leading activist organisations in the Spanish trans movement during the ’00s. The CTC had a direct impact on the definition of the Spanish law on gender identity. Although it may seem like a success story, this activist articulation has been conflicted and complicated: alliances between multiple and divergent political positions have proven difficult. This article explores the interconnections between personal experiences, implications of social policies, academic reflections and historical documents in order to unfold memories about im/possible articulations and dis/tensions between and among asymmetric positions; stories about how the sustainability of collective action may need institutional support and require unclear tactical transformations of political demands.


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